Thank you all so much for submitting bug reports! I really appreciate your patience, positive attitude & understanding (It's genuinely difficult to release a perfect & bug-free build on day one, especially when a team is small and the level (The Crypt) quite ambitious and non-linear. )
I'm happy to say that most of the bugs that have been reported are now fixed. Some issues I was unable to replicate just yet, but I'm in touch with a few of DARQ's fans who graciously agreed to help troubleshoot those, so one more patch is definitely coming soon. While I'm working on the remaining issues that might take a bit more time, I wanted to release a smaller patch in the meantime, so you have a better experience with the game.
Fixed issues
Switching between the body and the head rapidly in some cases resulted in controlling both at the same time. Not anymore.
Sometimes switching from the head to the body would result in a change in lighting. Not any more (at least, that's what it seems like. If you still experience this issue, let me know).
There were multiple unexpected collisions of lack thereof when controlling the head. Not anymore.
A never-before-discovered bug in the first level has been fixed. A big thank you to @Amöbe for reporting it.
The head no longer gets stuck in the air when it's left on the bottom of the second elevator (and when the elevator goes up)
To be fixed soon
Thank you to the members of this community who agreed to submit longer playthrough videos to help pinpoint what might be the cause. I'm working on these and a new patch will be released soon.
Some of you reported an issue that involves the head resetting its position in the rotating disk/coin puzzle. I was unable to replicate it as of now.
Some of you reported soft-lock when "hugging the wall" on the left after solving the bell puzzle. I was unable to replicate it and I'm working on pinpointing the issue.
Some of you reported issues with wireless controllers. They seem to do with the recent Steam client update and I'm still investigating. I also heard that the issue is related to Steam Link. I appreciate your patience as I'm looking closer into it.
Thank you all for the warm reception of The Crypt & The Complete Edition across all platforms! The new patch and more improvements are on their way!
DARQ: Complete Edition is OUT NOW!
Hey Dreamers!
Today we celebrate the release of the final content expansion for DARQ: "The Crypt." The base game + two DLC's are now called DARQ: Complete Edition.
How to Install "The Crypt"
Simply update DARQ and you're done! ːlloyd_happyː
The game should update automatically. If it doesn't, just restart Steam and it should do its thing.
While "The Crypt" and "The Tower" DLC's will remain listed (temporarily), you don't have to install them separately. They are already included in the updated build.
New Achievements
For those of you who like a good challenge, the new achievements are now listed. There are 5 of them. Big kudos to those who find all 4 skulls in The Crypt. I made sure to hide them well ːlloyd_happyː
Controllers
As of now, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and most Logitech controllers are supported. This has been an incredibly hectic year, but now that The Complete Edition is released, rest assured that getting support for more controllers is at the top of my "to-do" list.
Consoles
Today, The Complete Edition is also released on Xbox One and PS4. The old-gen console releases will qualify for free next-gen upgrades for the entire year. Physical releases of DARQ: Complete Edition for 5 consoles will follow shortly after, in Q1 of 2021. This is a big milestone for me, as a first-time developer, and I couldn't be more grateful to all of you. Those of you who bought the game made it possible for it to grow, both in size (free DLC's) and in reach (new platforms). Sometimes, I have to pinch myself just to make sure that it's all real. I'm also grateful to Feardemic & Dreamloop Games - bringing DARQ to so many platforms is a Herculean task, and they've been incredible partners on this journey.
Can't Wait to Hear Your Thoughts!
Let me know what you think of The Crypt! I've worked on it for half a year, so I'm super excited to hear your thoughts. The build was well tested and should be stable. If you happen to spot any bugs, please let me know. The fastest way to get support is through email (support@unfoldgames.org).
Happy exploring!
Hugs
"The Crypt" DLC is coming Dec. 4th
Hey, Lloyd's friends!
Lloyd needs your help to get through the mysterious crypt, and he needs it soon! Mark the date - The Crypt DLC is launching next week, on December 4th! As promised, it will be free for all of you to enjoy.
Check out the new trailer (which features some never-before-seen footage of The Crypt)!
[previewyoutube="TXnA81Bsd1I;full"] Excited for The Crypt? Keep reading!
The Crypt
The Crypt will be at least twice as long as The Tower. The average playtime varies between 40 to 60 minutes. Finding all hidden collectibles and unlocking extra achievements will likely take about 1 hour.
It's also the most challenging level in the game - at least that's what our beta testers say!
New Achievements
The Crypt will introduce 5 new achievements. Most are pretty difficult to unlock, so it's a treat for those of you who like a good challenge.
Console releases
DARQ: Complete Edition, which will include the base game plus The Tower and The Crypt DLC's, will launch on PS4 and Xbox One on December 4, too! Those who purchase DARQ: Complete Edition on PS4 and Xbox One will be able to upgrade to the next-gen builds in early 2021. The free upgrade will be available for the entire year, until 2022.
Switch, PS5, Xbox Series S|X, as well as physical releases of all console ports are expected in early 2021 as well.
TIGA Award Nomination
Ok, this is a bit overwhelming, but...DARQ is nominated for the TIGA's Best Adventure Game Award, alongside...The Last of Us Part II (!), and other awesome games. I'm blown away and can't quite describe what an honor it is for a first-time developer.
Thank You
The Crypt took hundreds of hours of work. It ended up being the most ambitious level in the entire game. As always, thank you for your support for DARQ. Your belief in this project and in me means more than words can say. Also, thank you for being patient - it definitely took some time to get The Crypt to the point where it felt like the best level of DARQ. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to spend months working on something for the sole purpose of making it cool, something that I get to share with you. It wouldn't have been possible without your support. I don't take any of it for granted.
Wlad
DARQ Comic Book Series?
Hey DARQ fans!
I'm super excited to announce DARQ: Dream Journal - a comic book series that will reveal many secrets hidden in DARQ and will expand upon the story of Lloyd and the DARQ Universe. Expect the comic books to be released in 2021 (print & digital). The art is being created by Kelsey Haley, known for her work for Dreamworks, Disney, and Universal Studios.
This book assumes no knowledge of game development on the reader's / listener's part. It offers a sneak peek into my story and all the hardship and obstacles I had to overcome to make DARQ.
In this book, I also share practical advice on how to go from knowing nothing about game development to making video games for a living (if that's something you're interested in). The book covers mindset, preproduction, funding, business, law, development, marketing, PR, publishing, distribution, as well as pre-launch, launch, and post-launch strategies. I hope it helps some of you, even if you're not interested in game development.
The book features advice from the following industry professionals
Quentin De Beukelaer (Game Designer of Assassin's Creed Unity and Ghost Recon Breakpoint)
Mark Kern (former lead for World of Warcraft, producer of Diablo II and Starcraft)
Bjørn Jacobsen (Sound Designer of Cyberpunk 2077 and Divinity: Fallen Heroes)
Austin Wintory (Grammy-nominated composer of Journey)
Wojciech Piejko (Lead Designer of Observer and The Medium)
Barbara Kciuk (Narrative Designer of Blair Witch)
Rami Ismail (Developer of Nuclear Throne and Super Crate Box)
Dan Adelman (Biz Dev of Chasm and Axiom Verge)
Scott Millard (Publisher, Managing Director at Feardemic, Former Managing Director at Bandai Namco)
Stephen McArthur (Video Game Attorney)
Toms Martin (Video Game Investor)
What others had to say
Have a fun Spooktober!
To celebrate Lloyd's favorite month, DARQ is now 60% off. If you ever wanted to pick up the game or gift it to your friends, now is a good time.
Thank you all so much for your support! As I'm writing this, I'm finishing up The Crypt - it's the most ambitious level I've ever designed and I can't wait to share it with you all (a couple of months from now). And yes, it's going to be free.
In addition, you can also catch The Crypt trailer featured in the Feardemic Facebook Stream on Friday, August 28th (same time).
Wishlist The Crypt on Steam
The page for the crypt is up! You can watch the trailer, have a look at screenshots, and most importantly, wishlist it, so you get notified as soon as it's released.
This week marks DARQ's 1st Anniversary, so I've got some big news to announce!
The Crypt
The 2nd DLC is still in development, but it's for a good reason. I set the bar high, especially that "The Crypt" will be the final content expansion for DARQ. I want to bring you as much value as possible - my goal is to make it as amazing as it can be. The level became quite ambitious. It's large and features the most challenging puzzles you've seen in DARQ yet. It introduces new game mechanics and comes with a set of new achievements. As you will see, the environments got better and more detailed too.
The main mechanic involves being able to switch between the body and the head:
This DLC will also be much more tense than "The Tower."
If you want to see more, be sure to check out the trailer:
[previewyoutube="MGrAMPqDDLk;full"]
As promised, "The Crypt" will be free for all of you to enjoy. It might take a few more months to finish, but I hope you don't mind waiting just a bit more. It will be released by the end of 2020, along with the console relea....wait, WHAT???
Console Releases
I know some of you have been waiting for this announcement for a while! I'm thrilled to announce that I've partnered up with the publisher Feardemic, subsidiary of Bloober Team (devs of Layers of Fear, Observer, Blair Witch) to bring DARQ to consoles.
If you've followed me for a while, you may already know that I've received many offers from publishers in the past. Having spent a lot of time dealing with publishers, including those who tried strongarming me into signing terrible deals, I haven't been able to find the right partner for DARQ - until now. Feardemic and Bloober Team are the leaders in the horror genre, so since the beginning, our creative visions aligned. Feardemic's team has been fair and accomodating to me since day one - I'm very happy with this partnership and it feels like the perfect fit.
Which consoles?
DARQ, along with the two free DLC's ("Complete Edition"), is coming to:
We're aiming to release the complete edition of DARQ on all platforms by the end of 2020. "The Crypt" DLC will be released on Steam and GOG around the same time (for free).
What about physical distribution?
All console releases will have both physical and digital distribution worldwide. Digital is expected in late 2020, while physical can come a bit later, in early 2021.
What exactly does Feardemic do?
To clarify, DARQ remains my intellectual property, and Feardemic has no creative control when it comes to the game and its contents. DARQ will remain self-published on the PC. Feardemic will simply bring DARQ to consoles.
Will you make more games after DARQ?
Most definitely. I have a few game projects lined up, so stay tuned for more exciting announcements! Apart from that, there are a couple of DARQ-related "side projects" that I'm thrilled to share with you.
Speaking of the upcoming projects...I'm incredibly grateful to all of you for providing me with the opportunity to continue to make games. It's a rare privilege that not many indie developers get to experience - I certainly don't take it for granted and will continue to do everything I can to show that to you. Going the extra mile with this free DLC is just one of the ways to express my gratitude. I can't wait to share with you what I've been working on!
While making games is a lot of hard work, I absolutely love the process- I can't believe that I get to do it. It also blows my mind that DARQ has won so many awards recently. For example, being nominated alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Borderlands 3, Death Stranding... There are times when I have to pinch myself! After all, DARQ became #42 Most Shared PC Video Game of 2019 (Metacritic). None of it would have happened without your support.
I'll always be thankful to you and be on your side - mark my words.
In the meantime, I hope you join me in wishing Lloyd a Happy (1st) Birthday! He's been through a lot and needs a bit of cake before heading over to the Crypt ;)
If you want to make games for a living, I've got a book for you
Hi everybody!
While "The Crypt" DLC is still in development, I've got something important to announce. In the time of lockdown, I've been working on one special book. I felt it was important to do something that could potentially help some people. The book might not be useful to most, but those of you who happen to discover a passion for game development, as I did a few years ago, might find it very helpful. The book is for those who know nothing about making games and want to try to do it for a living. After all, that's how DARQ was made - I started without knowing anything about game development and made it mostly solo (well, 95% of the game).
My First Game Became #42 Most Shared PC Game of 2019 (Metacritic). I spent $0 on Marketing.
Please note: my book is not a “get-rich-quick” scheme. What you see above is the result of 3.5 years of hard work. Most of the game was done by myself. Although your game could be made a lot faster, achieving success in any industry requires time, hard work, and dedication.
As a first-time developer with no prior experience in coding, modeling, texturing, animation, game design, etc., I managed to launch DARQ to both commercial success and critical acclaim. With zero dollars spent on marketing, it was featured in major media outlets, such as IGN, Kotaku, PC Gamer, GameSpot, Forbes, and hundreds of others. Ultimately, DARQ became #42 Most Shared PC Video Game of 2019, according to Metacritic, with the average user rating of 9 out of 10. In my book, I share with you exactly how I did it. The book guides you through a step-by-step process of making a game: from downloading a game engine to releasing your first commercial title.
DARQ had over 70,000 wishlists before its release, which made it one of the top 50 most wishlisted games on Steam. It resulted in a strong launch. DARQ got listed on the “Best Selling” and “New and Trending” tabs on Steam. A day later, it landed in the “Featured and Recommended” — the largest spot on the Steam front page (the holy grail of exposure; shoutout to the almighty Steam algorithms!).
In this book, I’ve made every effort to share with you all my strategies that resulted in DARQ’s success. I also write about things that went wrong, so you can learn from my mistakes.
It's coming in July
The book will be released in July (paperback, ebook, and audiobook). It's 260 pages long (or about 6 hours of audio narration). I hope it brings a lot of value to some of you.
The audiobook is narrated by YongYea, a famous YouTube personality, and a talented voice actor.
My dear friend and mentor, John Corigliano, wrote the foreword to the book. I'll end this announcement with a little excerpt:
Stay tuned for "The Crypt" DLC - it's coming soon, too!
"The Crypt" DLC first preview
Hey!
I hope you all are staying safe & healthy during this world crisis. Covid had an effect on our team (everyone is healthy, thankfully), but due to supply challenges & internet access problems in Italy (where some of our key members are located), this DLC is being developed completely solo (at least for now). Because of the amount of work involved (level design, modeling, texturing, animation, coding...), the development is expected to take some time. Luckily, with a ton of hard work, I've been able to make quite a lot of progress.
I'm thrilled to show you a little bit of a preview, so you know what's coming:
I set the bar very high - this is the most ambitious & most unique level in DARQ. This will be one of the most challenging levels, with some intricate puzzles and new mechanics.
Although there is no release date yet, I anticipate an early Summer launch. As previously, the DLC will be free & will come with new achievements (more than previously).
Stay tuned for more updates! Since "The Crypt" doesn't have its own Steam page yet, you can keep an eye on the release by subscribing to our mailing list (we don't spam and only send big milestone updates, such as major discounts or new releases) or social media if you like behind the scenes:
This patch (1.2.2) is here to fix some of the issues you might have encountered when trying to play DARQ with X Box controllers. A few notes and commonly asked questions & answers:
What controllers are supported as of now? X-Box One (Wired / Wireless), X-Box 360 (Wired / Wireless), Steam Controller. Also, as per your request, D-Pad is now functional. Support for more controllers will be added in the future.
Can other controllers work with this patch? While not tested, if your controller shares X Box key mapping, it should work. Please note, these patches are quick fixes to some of the issues we overlooked in the 1.2 update (my apologies!). Adding support for more controllers is definitely on our to-do list.
Run button (RT) doesn't work Please go to Steam Settings / Controller / General Controller Settings and uncheck any presets you may have selected. This should restore RT button functionality. (While selecting X Box Preset solved some of the issues in the previous patch, this patch doesn't require any presets to be active)
Nothing's changed, my (X Box) controller still doesn't work Please make sure that the game has updated to 1.2.2 version. You can check the build version in the top-right corner of the pause menu. If it doesn't say 1.2.2, restart Steam Client and let the game update to the most recent version.
If that doesn't help, make sure all controller presets in Steam Settings ( Steam Settings / Controller / General Controller Settings) are unchecked.
If you continue to encounter any issues with X Box controllers, please comment below. I appreciate your diligence in reporting problems and patience as we troubleshoot & resolve issues. I'm dedicated to resolving issues as soon as possible and your positive attitude means a lot to me (as some of the issues surprisingly require more time to solve & test than it may seem)
P.S.: Stay tuned for the upcoming 2nd free DLC, it's entering production next week :)
